Reconnecting bathroom fan exhuast duct

[DanGles11]

I was having some drywall remodeling work done in a hallway near an exististing basement bathroom. The exhaust ductwork for the bathroom fan runs right above this area. Somehow the ductwork got knocked loose from the duct connector on the fan housing. I didn't notice it until after the drywall work was finished. I can see it through a small opening in our laundry area near the ceiling (too small and too far way to reach anything) and the two parts that need to go together are only an inch or two apart. The fan is a Broan Model #655 with a light and a heater. There is no access from above or anyplace else to easily reconnect the ductwork. I sent an email to Broan about this problem and they said the only way that I could reconnect the ductwork was to cut a hole in the ceiling of the bathroom to access it. Is this really the only solution? Thanks for any input.

[SacCity]

If the parts are close you may be able to nurse them on from within the fan housing.
Remove the components from within the fan housing and see if you can grab the duct from the inside and pull it to the fan.
But part of this depends on what the duct material is. Does it have the rigidity to hold shape and work with or is it the flexible hose?

Nothing waisted in trying this before cutting drywall

[hj]

Impossible to answer without actually seeing the situation. IF the duct is rigid and movable, you might be able to guide it onto the fan outler from the accessible location while a second person tried to guide it on to the fan. If not, then cutting an access opening may be the only way. And once you get it back together, fasten it, as it should have been originally, so it does not happen again.

[jadnashua]

Rigid ductwork is really tough most of the time to join unless you can manually guide it while there since both ends are rarely nice and round, you need to push and prod a bit to insert one end into the other.